'Warframe' Open-World Expansion Arrives On PC Next Week

Since its launch in 2013, Warframe has revolved around randomly generated levels whose aspects—the scenery, enemy types, and bosses—were pulled from a set of assets. However, its upcoming expansion, "Plains of Eidolon," will depart from that trend with the introduction of a 50-player open world experience. The game's developer, Digital Extremes, announced that the expansion will arrive sometime next week.

This new area is called the Plains, and its main hub is a town called Cetus. There, you can take on missions, buy or sell items from numerous vendors, or meet up with other players. The main attraction is exploring the areas outside Cetus, and you can move about the area by yourself or with a team of up to three other players. In the Plains you can continue your fight against the evil Grineer forces, and there are also non-combative activities available as well such as mining and spearfishing. The area also features a day and night cycle. Players can participate in any activity during the day, but once the sun goes down, only the elite Tenno (your in-game character) can venture out into the Plains. At night, tougher enemies called Sentients roam the area, and if you’re looking for a more difficult challenge you can take on the powerful Eidolons that tower over everything else in the Plains.

Other than the Plains, the expansion also includes some other major additions. At the top of the list is a new Warframe suit, called Gara, to use in combat. The suit specializes in the manipulation of glass to fight foes. Its abilities include Shattered Lash, which spawns a glass blade, and Splinter Storm, which can envelop a target with small glass shards. The Warframe also comes with some new weapons that can take out enemies with a single slug that spawns multiple shards or stealthily kill targets with a glass shuriken. If you don’t want to use Gara, you can still grab some new firearms or melee weapons to fight the Grineer in the Plains.

The studio will also release a reworked Focus mechanic, which centers around special abilities based on a player’s choice from five different skill trees. In this coming expansion, players will see a more combat-oriented version of the Focus system. This will allow you to use “distinct Weapons and Armor found deep in the Caves of the Plains.”

Other features for the expansion include new mods to use for weapons and gear, ship decorations, player stances, skins, and armor components. If you’re playing on PC, you can hop in the new expansion sometime next week. Fans on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One will have to wait until November to explore the Plains for themselves.